The Saga of Spider-man
by ytttu
Summary: The Golden age of heroes is over. Most are retired, dead or in hiding. But hope arrives in the form of a new Spider-man, Aaron Braddock, who has been stepped on his whole life is given the power to fight back against his own inner demons as well as those lurking in the shadows of New York, but can he possibly succeed? Only time will tell. Rated T.
1. New Beginnings, Part I: Isolation

**New Beginnings Part I: Isolation**

**Hey, Jack here, I want to apologise because this first chapter is a bit slow, however, things will pick up, I promise, all I ask is that you give it a go, if you like it great, it not, tell me why, I'd love to hear any criticism as long as it helps improve my writing.**

**First things first, I want to offer a warning because this story does contain mentions of physical abuse and mild language, with that said, the first chapters are some of the darkest, as with any Superhero fiction, since it contains the origin of this new Spider-man.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Spider-man, Marvel, or any associated characters.**

**With all that said, let's begin, Enjoy!**

**-Ytttu**

* * *

"Alright Mr. Braddock, I'm going to as you something and I want your honest answer. How's your home life?" A woman sat back in her chair, her dark hair tied up into a tight bun, she had a professional demeanour as she spoke to the boy sitting opposite her, across her desk.

"...It's fine." The boy kept his answers clipped and short, he was around sixteen and had messy dark brown hair, which matched the colour of his eyes, which had bags under them from a lack of sleep, the boy was of average height, but skinny and quiet along with it.

"Aaron, I can't help you if you don't-" The woman began, trying a more friendly approach

"It's **fine**, Miss. Allan. Honestly." Aaron kept his short replies. He didn't understand why people had to pry so much or why he had to attend these stupid meetings to check on him.

Liz sighed "Okay...So home life is 'fine'...You excited about the Field trip to Alchemax tomorrow?"

Aaron shrugged "I guess.." The young man wasn't much for talking, especially to his School counsellor.

Liz frowned for a moment, thinking to herself, before looking at her watch "Okay Mr. Braddock you can go. Not much point in keeping you here."

Aaron nodded and got up, leaving the room without another word, placing his headphones in and taking out his cracked, old phone that his Mother had given him to turn on some music as he walked.

Eventually, the boy reached the run down apartment building he lived in with his parents, making his way to the floor which housed their living quarters. Aaron unlocked the door and tried to make his way to his room unnoticed by his father.

"Take those out." John Braddock walked over to his son, he was a menacing figure, tall and built like a boxer. "Did you hear me kid? I said take 'em out." John pulled a headphone out and Aaron stepped back slightly. "I don't wanna have to teach you a lesson like last time. Bad enough they got you seein' some counsellor bitch after that, you didn't say nothin' to her, did you?"

Aaron shook his head slightly.

"Well? Did you?" John got into Aaron personal space and the boy backed up even more, shaking his head more frantically, "N-No Dad…"

John stayed there for a moment, before sitting back down "Good kid. Now go bother your Mother."

Aaron quickly left the room, knocking on his Mother's bedroom door "M-mom?"

Amy opened it, smiling at her son, she was sporting a new black eye, but Aaron new better than to mention it when John could potentially hear.

"Hey sweetie, how was school?" Amy sat on her bed, crossing her legs.

"Alright I guess...What're you doing?" Aaron sat next to her, Amy was going through a box of old drawings.

"Just looking...I found this old box of junk, old sketches I did of superheroes from when I was your age...Captain America, Iron man, Spider-man, The Fantastic four...I used to love them, wrote stories and drew pictures about them before I met your Father." Amy showed a few to her son, smiling timidly as she did so.

"I always loved your drawings." Aaron said, staring at a sketch of Spider-man, his Mother's favourite.

A loud voice came from the lounge "AMY! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!"

Amy replied only just loud enough for John to hear "Coming honey!" The Mother then stood up and left the room, offering Aaron one last smile.

Aaron sighed and went into his room, where he locked himself for the rest of the night. The next day he left for school early, not wanting to be at home for when John woke up. He eventually arrived at school and then got loaded onto a bus ferrying the children in his class to Alchemax for the field trip. Aaron sat at the back, alone and looked out of a window, deep in thought when somebody sat next to him. He kept his head down, not wanting to risk talking to somebody potentially ready to tease him.

"Excuse me, this seat's not taken is it?" Aaron turned, looking at a girl he hadn't seen before.

"N-No- I mean-No...No it's not...that I know of...Maybe- Ish…" Aaron cleared his throat and went back to looking out of the window.

The girl smiled slightly, mildly amused. "My name's Haley, and you are?..." Aaron looked back at the girl, avoiding eye contact, fiddling with his hands "Aaron...Braddock."

"Well it's nice to meet you Aaron." Haley was shorter than average and had purple hair tied into a ponytail, she wore thick glasses and a baggy dark blue sweater.

Aaron nodded slightly, not comfortable or confident in the slightest. "Y-yeah...You too."

Haley frowned, slightly confused at just how awkward Aaron was, but she shook her head slightly and continued trying to spark conversation "I'm new here, just moved from Los Angeles with my family, trying to make new friends, y'know?"

Aaron nodded slightly "Yeah.."

Haley talked for the rest of the journey, Aaron occasionally agreeing or nodding along where appropriate, he had to admit, it was nice to have somebody talking to him instead of avoiding him, teasing him or trying to provoke him.

* * *

Once everybody had gotten off the bus, the tour began, Haley moved to the front, making notes, engrossed in what the tour guide was saying about the various experiments they were shown. Aaron stood at the back, watching the sights around him, when a piece of paper hit the back of his head. Aaron turned slowly to see who threw it, and there stood the three main bullies who targeted him.

Josh, a rich boy who talked down to anybody he perceived as below him, Josh was dressed in expensive clothing and was not the toughest looking person in the world, however, his best friend and primary muscle, Steven, was.

Then there was Josh's girlfriend, Nadia, a beautiful girl with a not so beautiful personality.

Josh gave a smug grin and pushed past Aaron, Steven doing the same, but laughing. As Steven pushed him, Aaron fell to the ground, crashing into a table and knocking a pen pot over.

Nadia walked past, stick her nose up as she did so, actively avoiding looking at him.

As Aaron picked himself up and the stationary up, the class moved on. Aaron went around the corner to find them and sighed as he couldn't. He spotted a coded door that had been left open. _"Guess they're being shown some contained experiment or something…" _Aaron hurried into the room and looked around.

It was relatively small and had only a few computers along with an empty plastic box in the centre. Aaron walked over to it and peered inside _"Looks like an animal enclosure…"_ Aaron thought to himself as he continued examining it.

As he did so, he rested his hand on the table, above him, a spider slowly lowered itself from the roof, crawling onto his hand. Aaron stood up and turned to leave, then felt something on his skin, crawling. Aaron looked at his hand and yelled, attempting to swat the spider.

The Spider panicked and instantly bit down before Aaron crushed it and threw it off "Ew...Ew...Ew…" Aaron shuddered as he looked at the bite marks.

"_Better find them…"_ Aaron ran out of the room, searching for his class. Eventually finding them looking at a giant microscope.

The tour ended shortly after and Aaron made his way home, feeling progressively more ill as he got there, as he reached home, he walked straight into his room and slowly pulled off his clothes as he felt hot, as if he'd been sitting in the sun all day. He then collapsed on his bed. But he couldn't sleep. The base of his skull felt tingly, like the worst headache he'd ever had. Everything was louder and slower, each footstep in the hall like a hammer.

Aaron was sweating profusely, his skin was almost ghostly white and his eyes were bloodshot, he covered his ears and grit his teeth and then…

Silence. The noise had subsided and everything was fine.

Then, there was the tingle again as Aaron heard somebody in the Hallway, John on the phone. "Yeah...Yeah, I get it, I get it damn it! But Tuesday's our big day! Big score! Set for life...Able to leave Amy and the disappointment, I don't care. We're doing it. I know we've never hit a bank but there's a first time for everything. Just bring your mask and gun, alright? Cool. Bye." John walked into his room and locked the door.

As soon as the tingling sensation stopped, Aaron passed out from exhaustion, moving in the night as if he were suffering from night terrors.

Suddenly, Aaron sat up, looking around. Sunlight streaming into his room through his blinds. It was morning, and Aaron felt good, no, better than good, Aaron felt great, better than he had in a long time. He got out of bed and looked in the mirror, frowning at what he saw.

He was the same size as before, except he had well toned Muscles. _"Well this is new...Oh crap, is that the time?!"_ Aaron looked at his clock, then rushed around, throwing his clothes on, grabbing his school bag and leaving the house quickly.

* * *

**Next time: A New Beginnings ****Part II: Discovery**


	2. New Beginnings, Part II: Discovery

**New Beginnings, Part II: ****Discovery**

**Hello all, Back here with the second chapter and Part 2 of 3 of the Origin story of Aaron Braddock, **

**Before I started I just wanted to personally thank writerbyday05 for the review and kind words, I also completely agree with the criticism and may try to amend the previous chapter (And this one if I feel it shares the same problems) at a later date, once the 'Origin' story is all out.**

**Thank you to anybody reading for taking the time to do so, with that said, On with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Spider-man, Marvel or any affiliated characters.**

* * *

"Hey! Braddock! Get lost on the way to school?!" Josh grinned as Aaron entered the grounds.

"Leave me alone, Josh." Aaron spoke up, surprising even himself. Josh scowled and looked at Nadia who was stood with him at the time. She shrugged, looking just as confused that Aaron had spoken up.

"You're gonna apologise for that Braddock. Right now." Josh walked over to Aaron, getting in his personal space, which was usually enough to get the quieter boy to back down, but not this time, Aaron felt good today, he felt oddly powerful.

"Or what? You're gonna beat me up? Threaten to sue me? I've heard it all before and frankly it doesn't impress me like it seems to impress your girlfriend." Nadia folded her arms, huffing.

"Just kick his ass Josh. I'm bored." Nadia examined her nails idly.

Josh nodded "Alright, I will." Suddenly, Josh threw a punch directly for Aaron's face.

Aaron quickly but clumsily ducked, Josh scowled and kept throwing punch after punch which his would-be victim kept dodging with graceless speed. The more attacks that missed, the more frustrated the bully got, eventually throwing a powerful right hook.

At that moment, everything slowed down for Aaron, acting on pure instinct, he caught the fist and threw his own free hand back in return.

Josh fell backwards, landing on the floor, his nose at an off angle, bleeding heavily, obviously broken. Aaron stepped back, breathing heavily.

Nadia squealed and ran to Josh's side "Help! Help! Braddock attacked Josh!"

Aaron looked at the crowd that was gathering, most glaring at him, but a few had knowing looks, assuming it was Josh who started it. Haley folded her arms, not convinced by Nadia.

But Aaron was spooked, he turned and ran out of the school grounds, heading into a nearby alley to calm down and steady his breathing. _"That was crazy...I'd never fight back...I never do, Why did I? What the hell is happening to me?" _

Aaron looked at his hands, backing up further into the alley, as he did so, he stood on a Cat's tail, the cat squawked and hissed, surprising the boy, who sprang up into the air, clinging to a wall.

It took a few seconds for him to realise what he'd just done, he was stuck to a wall. Aaron tried to peel his hands off the brick, but couldn't he pulled harder and ended up taking a hand-print out of the brick work, some sticking to his hand. Aaron stared wide eyed "Don't freak out...Don't freak out...Don't freak out...I'm freaking out." Aaron began breathing heavily "Definitely freaking out...Definitely freaking out...Oh god…" Aaron suddenly slipped off the wall, landing on his backside in the cold and damp alley.

He sat there, silent as he brushed the brick remnants from his hand. _"So you're like Spider-man...No big deal...Stuff like this happens all the time...Or it's a dream...Or I'm dead…Could be any. Jesus, I hope I'm not dead! Please don't be dead!" _Aaron checked his pulse then sighed, satisfied he wasn't deceased.

* * *

About ten minutes later, Aaron was still sat in the alley, thinking to himself, his brain working frantically to understand what had happened to him. "_I'm just like Spider-man...I'm just like Spider-man!" _Aaron thought, overjoyed. Climbing the wall, grinning like an idiot.

* * *

"_I'm just like Spider-man...Does that mean villains will come looking for me? Spider-man's dead though! Am I gonna die?"_ Aaron thought, terrified, dropping off the wall and pacing back and forth like a paranoid maniac.

* * *

"_Spider-man's dead...because he used his powers to help people who were being stepped on. The little guys. Like...me." _Aaron thought, feeling a slight pang of guilt that the first thing he did was beat up his personal bully instead of living up to the example that had been placed before him, even if he hadn't realised what was happening at that point.

"But I'm a coward...right? How can I help people? I'm just some stupid kid." Aaron spoke to himself as he left the alleyway. "Then again...I won't know unless I try..But where to start? New York's a big place.." Aaron sighed "And I can't shoot webs either...I thought that was a thing Spider-man could do." Aaron tried positioning his hand like Spider-man used to. _"Nope...No dice."_

* * *

Aaron eventually reached home and slipped inside, his father asleep on the couch. John was muttering in his sleep, Aaron managed to make out something about a 'Big score' and that's when he remembered. Last night John was on the phone.

"_...I could finally have my Dad pay for everything he's done to Mom…"_

Aaron closed his door and began searching for clothing to make a makeshift costume. He eventually settled on a black hoodie and jogging bottoms, along with red gloves, which he cut the fingers off of in order to allow him to stick to walls more effectively.

"_Need a mask…"_ Aaron frowned, then he slowly and carefully snuck into his parents bedroom, grabbing one of John's old ski masks from the closet as quietly as possible. He then moved quickly back into his own room, his heart pounding. He'd never rebelled against John, he didn't know how, until now. The biggest Bully in his life, the one who had caused him and his mother the most misery along with countless others was going to pay, and on the day that he thought would be the happiest of his life, John would be arrested.

Aaron smiled slightly at the thought, but then the smile faded. _"But...Would Mom want this? Does she love Dad?...I- No...Can't think about that...Da- No….__**John**__ is a monster...And he's going to pay for what he's done."_

Aaron packed the very makeshift suit into a bag and then opened the window in his room, looking down at the drop. Aaron gulped _"Okay Braddock...No more being a coward...You can make this jump...Just a simple drop...You're just like Spider-man...Spider-man could take this. Any day."_ Aaron hesitated, then went to leave through his door, when he heard John stirring.

"_Damn...Not much choice now…" _Aaron took a deep breath and dropped his bag out of the window, before climbing out onto the ledge. He took another deep breath and jumped after his bag.

Aaron felt pure terror when falling, closing his eyes. The young man then opened them again a few seconds later and found himself sitting on the ground next to his bag. He laughed to himself _"No freakin' way…" _

Aaron grabbed his bag and left the small back garden of the apartment building, running to the local library.

* * *

A few hours later, and Aaron yawned, he was reading over an old archived blueprint for the bank John was planning on robbing, having told the librarian he was studying architecture in school. _"Just gotta find a route in...Wonder if that skylight will work…"_ Aaron frowned. Eventually, he had what he felt was a solid plan of action and walked back home.

When Aaron arrived, he managed to avoid John and get to his room, however, he felt a strange tingling sensation in the base of his skull, just like he had the night before. He scratched at the back of his head, trying to make it go away. It wouldn't, he let out a slight groan and opened his door. Amy was sat on his bed waiting for him.

"Aaron. I think you know what I want to talk about." Amy folded her arms, not looking impressed.

"...I don't-" Amy gave a glare.

"You** broke** a boy's nose."

Aaron rubbed the back of his neck, looking guilty "...Oh...that…Well he dese-"

"Aaron Braddock, if you finish that sentence, I will ground you for life."

"Sorry…" Aaron looked at the floor

Amy sighed loudly "Come here Aaron, we need to talk." Aaron nodded, doing as he was told, sitting next to Amy on the bed.

"You're growing up...In a frankly awful situation...And I wish I could do something about it...But I…" Tears began to form but Amy fought them back. "I can't...I'd love to send you somewhere safe but I'm scared John would come after you if I did...Look...Your Father is not a good man...Maybe he was once, but that's not important...You broke this boy's nose, so the question you have to ask yourself Aaron, is do you want to be just like your Father? If so...carry on, but if you want to be better? To be the man I **know** you can be? You have to try to focus all this anger and hate onto something more positive...Alright sweetheart?" Amy looked Aaron dead in the eyes as she spoke.

Aaron nodded "Yeah...Okay Mom...I get it...I'm sorry."

Amy smiled slightly "I know you are, and luckily they're not pressing charges because a girl came forwards and stated Joshua started it. Just think about what I said, Okay? And Make sure you eat." Amy got up and left the room, closing the door quietly after herself.

Aaron sat in his room, taking the bag off his shoulder. He put it under his bed and lay down, reflecting on the words his Mother had offered.

Who did he want to be?

* * *

**Next time: New Beginnings, Part III: Rebirth.**


	3. New Beginnings, Part III: Responsibility

**New Beginnings, Part III: ****Responsibility**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, Spider-man or any associated characters other than my own creations,**

* * *

**Hello all, sorry for the delay on this chapter, but I had an essay due in and I had to get it done, so I managed to finish the first 'Arc' of sorts in the free time I had, so here it is, New Beginnings, Chapter III.**

**Thanks for sticking around to read it, all constructive criticism and suggestions on how to improve are welcome and once again thank you to writerbyday05 for the review and suggestions on how to improve, I will keep trying and I'm glad you're enjoying it.**

**-Ytttu**

* * *

"Sometimes, things are out of our control, however, other times, things are our fault. We can't necessarily prevent either because a lot of the time you don't realise you've done wrong until something bad happens as a result. As human beings, it's a fundamental part of our nature. But as a society? We have to try and be better. The bad things that happen because of you might already be done. But that doesn't mean you can't correct them. After all, we all hold some amount of power at some point in our lives; and with power, comes a degree of responsibility."

Aaron sat in class, silently thinking as his teacher read from their notes.

"**That **is a direct quote from Peter Parker, a true hero who left us all too soon. I'm sure you all know him as Spider-man. It's been twenty years since his death, your homework is to write an essay discussing the fundamental meaning behind the mantra of Great power means Great responsibility. I expect it by monday, five hundred words minimum. Class dismissed." The teacher indicated to the door as the bell rang loudly throughout the school.

The students got up and left after packing up their belongings, Aaron doing the same.

"Hey, Aaron- I don't know if you remember me but on the bus to Alchemax we talked. Or, more accurately, I talked." Haley smiled as she caught up with Aaron.

"Y-yeah...I remember, Haley- right?" The super-powered student rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You remember my name? Awesome, hey, I'm sorry to ask this bus you're good at science, right? Like, you get good grades?"

Aaron nodded slightly "Y-yeah, I guess I do..."

"You… wouldn't mind helping me, would you? Feel free to say no, but having not long moved here I'm a bit behind and I'm more of an English type of girl anyway, never been good at sciences as such." Aaron looked at Haley, having to process the request for a second.

"Yep...I can help.." He managed to get the words out. "When and where?" Aaron asked nervously.

Haley couldn't help but smile at her new-found tutor's awkwardness, it wasn't as bad as the bus, but it was still very noticeable "How about the Library tomorrow lunch? Unless you've got plans."

"I don't think being threatened by Josh and his goons constitute as plans...so no." Aaron gave a shy smile and Haley laughed slightly.

"Somehow I think breaking the asshole's nose may be keeping him off you for a while, even if you do get death glares."

Aaron nodded "Plenty of them…"

"Well Aaron, I bid you adieu until tomorrow." The purple haired girl smiled and walked away.

* * *

"Okay boys, what've we got?" John clapped his hands together, stood in the warehouse with his crew.

One man stepped forwards "To get into the vault we've got a vibranium tipped drill, which we've got stashed in a duffle bag in the back of the van, along with spare bags for the money. We've each got a short range transmission device fresh off the black market that should allow instant access to ATMs along with a shotgun for you Johnny boy and rifles for the rest of us."

John grinned "We're gonna be rich. Now. This is a high profile job. **Anybody** feeling the heat and wanting to back out?" he looked around at his crew. "No? Nobody?"

Another man sighed and raised his hand "Look man, I don't feel comfortable doing this job, I got a family I **actually **care about, I can't risk being caugh-" The thug was cut short by a gunshot, a hole leaking blood from his forehead. John blew smoke from his handgun.

"I don't like pussies in my gang." John holstered his handgun. "Load up boys. Because in exactly 6 hours and 32 minutes….Now. We're going to be rich."

The crew looked uncertain, occasionally sharing glances with each other, but went along with it nonetheless, the corpse of the man who'd spoken up being cleared away and disposed of.

* * *

Later that evening, Aaron sat at the top of the stairs, listening closely to his parents usual arguing. The usual sickening slap sound when John gets too irritated. As much as it hurt, Aaron couldn't step in, not yet. He had to catch John at the bank and delaying him could cause a lot of issues.

"I hate you, you heartless bastard!" Tears rolled down Amy's now red cheek as she ran into the Kitchen.

"I've heard it all before you weak willed whore!" John grabbed his coat, smiling to himself. "Showtime…" He left the house, getting into his car.

Aaron ran to his room and climbed out of the window, pulling on his makeshift mask as he leapt from building to building, tailing John's car, only just managing to keep up.

John pulled into an abandoned car park, pulled on a mask and then got into the passenger side of the van that was waiting there. As the van pulled out, Aaron jumped down, landing on it.

John looked at his driver "The hell was that?"

The driver shrugged "Probably went over some freakin' pothole, you know how this neighbourhood is crappy."

"That's why I can't wait to get the hell out of it…"

Aaron clung to the roof of the van as it parked next to the bank in an alley, leaping onto the wall and staying hidden, holding his breath.

"_Okay...You can do this...You can do this...If you don't do this, your Dad is gonna get away with hurting people...And if you let that happen, then you're as bad as him...And you __**can't**__ under any circumstances become like him." _Aaron took a deep breath and climbed to the roof, watching through a skylight as John and his crew fired guns into the air, taking control of the bank. _"What would Spider-man do?...Well...He'd go in, disarm the thugs with a web and a wise-crack and then save the day...But I can't do that...I'm not good enough to do that...So maybe stealth is the best approach."_

Aaron spotted an air vent leading into the bank and ripped off the cover, crawling in. _"Nailed it. Phase one, complete...I'm in." _Aaron smiled to himself. He was actually doing it.

Aaron spotted a thug directly underneath him, He broke off another cover and pulled it into the vent, trying not to make noise. He dropped down behind the thug and moved towards him, accidentally nudging a desk.

A tingling sensation was the only thing Aaron could focus on, immediately following his instincts, he moved aside as the thug whirled and fired.

"Oh shit! WE GOT A MASKED VIGILANTE!" The thug cried out, alerting the others.

John cursed loudly, grabbing a woman and yanking her onto her feet. "Move it, NOW!" John held his gun to the woman's head and retreated into the office with his hostage.

The thug had wasted his entire ammo clip firing at Aaron and missing, so he charged forwards, using the gun to smack Aaron's head, disorientating him.

The young wanna-be hero jumped, clinging to the roof as the other two goons entered the room and opened fire, Aaron bounced around, acting on adrenaline and the tingling in the base of his skull, bullets barely missing. "Oh crap, Oh crap, Oh crap…" Aaron kept muttering as he dodged, eventually the thugs ran out of ammo and Aaron dropped down.

"Three guys, Three guns, no hits...That's an awful score…" Aaron tried to punch a thug, but the thug had thrown his own punch, smacking Aaron's jaw.

Aaron fell back and another crook grabbed a fire extinguisher, throwing it at him, Aaron rolled to the side and stood up, kicking a chair at one thug, causing him to crash into a wall.

"HA! Sit down!" Aaron frowned _"I've never felt so good in my life."_

Another came forwards, trying to use his gun like a bat, Aaron blocked quickly, his sixth sense instructing him to do so, and then threw a punch into the thug's jaw, causing him to fly upwards and land on a desk.

The last one put his hands up and got on his knees as Aaron picked up the guns, throwing them out of the window.

"_Only one more to go…"_

Aaron walked into the office and John still had the hostage, Aaron instantly froze. "I will put a bullet in her skull, you little shit. I will fill her so full of lead you could call her a pencil!"

Aaron took a small step forwards "We can work this ou-" **BANG** Aaron's 'spider-sense' went off again and the world seemed to slow down as John pulled the trigger. The woman went limp following the loud bang, blood trickling slowly down her face.

"NO!" Aaron ran forwards slamming John into the wall, harder than anticipated and enough to give his father a concussion, knocking him out instantly. Aaron backed up, staring at the corpse, his breathing increasing rapidly.

He had to escape. Had to get out of there. This was his fault. He was too hasty, too cocky, he'd gotten too confident, enjoyed it too much, He should have trained more. This was on him. He had to escape.

Aaron ran into the main room, jumping back into the vent he'd entered through, he escaped to the roof and kept running, his breath ragged and heavy, he was panicking, the world seemed to be folding in on him, he eventually collapsed onto his knees on a roof and pulled off his mask. Tears flowing down his face. He curled up as sirens approached the bank. The woman's death was on him. And he had to make it right.

This was his fault. He couldn't necessarily prevent it because he didn't realise he'd gone about it wrong until something bad happened as a result. As a human being, it's a fundamental part of his nature. But as a hero? He had to try and be better. The bad thing that happened because of him was already done. But that doesn't mean he couldn't correct it. After all, he held newfound power now; and with that power, comes responsibility.

* * *

**Next time: Hero? Part I: Finding a place**


End file.
